Chapter 29 Zhao Xian: Heh, I forced myself...
Looking at the eyebrows she had just drawn in the bronze mirror, she thought that changing them would take up too much time: "No need to change them. My husband has drawn them so well. It's nice to try a new and different eyebrow shape from time to time."
Zhao Xian hurriedly got up as she spoke, not wanting to go through that again, otherwise her heart would jump out of her chest.
Jiang Liangxu leaned against the table, his gaze following her movements. His smile faded slightly. "Madam doesn't remember."
"Hmm?" Zhao Xian turned around; she seemed to have heard Jiang Liangxu speak.
“Madam is right, this is quite good, let’s try a new way of painting.” As Zhao Xian turned around to look at him, Jiang Liangxu smiled and got up, holding the eyebrow-painting stone that had been broken in two, and went behind the screen to change his clothes.
--
"Ah Xu, look what's different about me today?"
Jiang Liangxu, who had just returned home from the academy, felt a weight on his back as he entered the door. A young girl wrapped her arms around his neck, her voice filled with joy.
Jiang Liangxu, still holding the book, hurriedly reached behind to pull the other person back to prevent them from falling. He turned around and said, "Hmm, my wife has become even more beautiful and charming."
"Ah—you have the nerve to say that? I'm embarrassed to even hear it."
The girl patted his shoulder to signal him to get down. After landing, she tiptoed closer to Jiang Liangxu and said, "Take a good look. Is there anything different about me today?"
Jiang Liangxu looked her over from left to right, holding a book in one hand and cupping her cheek in the other, and said earnestly, "Nothing has changed."
"Liar! You said you'd recognize me no matter what I look like, but you didn't even notice such a big change." The girl rolled her eyes at him and turned to walk back into the house.
Before she had taken two steps, a hand appeared around her waist, and she was suddenly pulled into the arms of the person behind her. Her teasing voice rang in her ears: "You are only allowed to draw Qiu Niang's eyebrows at home for me to see. You are not allowed to do it outside."
The girl in his arms glared at him: "I could tell, but you didn't say anything. You're just teasing me. Is it pretty or not?"
"Beautiful, so beautiful it's captivating."
"No, it's broad daylight."
--
"Master, Master."
The sound of the peony pulled Jiang Liangxu back to reality.
He gripped the eyebrow-drawing stone in his hand again. "What is it?"
"Madam sent me to urge you to have breakfast, otherwise it will get cold."
After changing his clothes, Jiang Liangxu sat down opposite Zhao Xian, watching her eat her breakfast calmly, seemingly oblivious to the past.
The porridge tasted slightly sour and bitter, and he didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
After breakfast, servants brought several dates suitable for holding a family reunion banquet for them to choose from.
Zhao Xian pointed to one of the dates and said, "This day is good. It's half a month away, enough time for the household to make preparations."
Jiang Liangxu glanced at it and nodded: "Madam can make the arrangements."
"Then I'll trouble you with the invitations, my husband."
At the last time, when Xiu'er celebrated her full moon, although invitations were sent to all the families, Jiang Liangxu was not at home. Instead, Jiang Wei and his brother were the ones who entertained the guests in the front yard. Many ministers did not come to the Jiang family. Some sent stewards with gifts, while others sent their younger family members.
The women's families were fine; almost everyone who received the invitation came.
In families of high status, the invitations usually need to be written by the head of the household himself, and cannot be taken lightly.
Jiang Liangxu didn't refuse, "Okay."
Before long, Li Lianniang, carrying Xiujie'er, and Cui Tingyue, accompanied by her maid, came to pay their respects to Zhao Xian.
Jiang Liangxu was going to rest at home for three days and had no plans to go out for the time being. After receiving the greetings, he went to the tea room to write invitations.
Zhao Xian then discussed the details of the family reunion banquet with the two.
By careful calculation, Cui Tingyue has completed a full year of mourning, and can now remove the white flowers from her head and the plain clothes from her body.
As long as you don't dress too extravagantly, it's not considered unruly.
"The colors of the fabrics in the warehouse don't seem fashionable enough. Have the steward buy another batch of fabrics that are suitable for your age and bring them into the mansion."
"We also need to have the manager of the jewelry store come to the mansion so that Tingyue can pick out a few sets of jewelry to wear."
Jin'an was located under the emperor's nose, and there were many more high-ranking officials and nobles. Modern people judge others by their appearance, let alone in ancient times when the powerful and wealthy were the main force.
"Respect the clothes first, then the person." As the adopted daughter of the Jiang family, the family recognition banquet is a signal to Cui Tingyue that she will be a member of the Jiang family from now on, so everything must be done carefully.
"Master has returned home. There will be even more guests at this family reunion banquet, so we need to be extra careful. Pay attention to areas that need repair... In the hot summer, the food and other items are of the highest quality..."
As Zhao Xian spoke, Li Lianniang took notes, afraid of any oversights.
After listening, Li Lianniang filled several pages of her notebook with notes. "Alright, I'll arrange everything now."
It's good to have someone in charge of general affairs. After giving her instructions, Zhao Xian found that she was alright, so she spent some time playing with Xiu'er.
Xiujie is over three months old now. She's started to dislike being held while lying flat and prefers to be held upright and walked around to see what's going on.
At Zhao Xian's place, Zhao Xian tapped the chess pieces for her to listen to. The chess pieces were the two boxes that the Princess had given her, and they were brightly colored, which was suitable for attracting children.
After holding the baby for a while, Zhao Xian handed the baby over to the wet nurse. It was so hot in the summer that even though there was ice in the room, holding a baby was like holding a furnace.
"You don't like chess pieces anymore? Then let's go see what other good things your grandfather bought."
Remembering that the servants had also brought boxes to Haitang Residence yesterday, Zhao Xian wondered if there were any travelogues.
The original owner was a lady of the inner quarters, who rarely left her home.
After reading those travelogues, Zhao Xian was also very curious about what the places outside this small house were like, and what the places outside this town were like.
I had someone bring the box from yesterday into the house, and after looking through everything inside, I still couldn't find the travelogue.
"Is there nothing that Madam likes?"
After Jiang Liangxu finished writing the post and didn't hear anyone else's voice, he came out and saw Zhao Xian looking for something.
Zhao Xian turned around at the sound and asked, "Where's the travelogue?"
What is a travelogue?
“Letters from home, letters concerning this box of items.” Zhao Xian pointed to the items on the table.
"It wasn't written."
"without……"
Jiang Liangxu explained, "After crossing the Zhanlin River, I was quite busy and didn't have time to write letters home."
As he spoke, he stepped forward and pulled Zhao Xian to sit down on the soft couch. He casually picked up one of the boxes, opened it, and pointed to the contents, saying, "I bought this in a village I passed through on my way to Quliang Town. This village has a special custom..."
"And then? That guard named Xu Cheng was tied up and forced to be someone else's groom?"
"And then what? What became of that girl?"
“That father is a beast. He sold his wife, his daughter, and his son. Why doesn’t he sell himself?”
...
Zhao Xian listened with great interest, sometimes happy and sometimes angry.
Although she didn't go out, it was as if she had witnessed those things.
As Jiang Liangxu spoke, he casually peeled grapes and fed them to others.
Zhao Xian waved her hand: "No, I'm too full."
Zhao Xian had barely seen half of the local specialties she had bought from various places when she was already stuffed with tea, snacks, and fruits.
Yingchun lifted the curtain and came into the room, saying, "Master, Qin Da is outside the door, saying he has something to report."
Jiang Liangxu put the peeled grapes into his mouth, saying, "I'll tell you the rest next time."
Zhao Xian nodded. This was much more enjoyable than reading travelogues herself; the stories were more complete. "Go ahead and get busy."
After Jiang Liangxu left, Zhao Xian belatedly realized that she had spent the whole morning with him.
In an attempt to learn more about Jiang Liangxu from the original owner's memories, Zhao Xian discovered that she only saw his back in many of his images.
The front view also showed a smiling face, giving off a gentle and refined feeling, but it still gave her an unreal feeling.
It was as if, from the perspective of the original owner, he was very far away from her.
But judging from how Jiang Liangxu interacted with people at home, this man seems to have no problems. He's not irritable, doesn't easily give people the cold shoulder, and his communication is normal.
Whether in ancient or modern times, such a man is rare.
However, in the novel, Jiang Liangxu's type is the ordinary or gentle second male lead, since a male lead can't be without flaws or shortcomings.
It's clear he had feelings for the original owner of the body, so why did he seem to disappear without a trace when the original owner met such a tragic end in the book? Why did he remain indifferent and uncaring?
--
The three-day rest period granted by the Emperor passed in a flash, and Jiang Liangxu began his days of getting up before dawn to attend court.
Using menstruation as an excuse, they got along very well, even when lying in the same bed, they kept their distance clearly.
I'm just worried about what to do after my period ends.
Zhao Xian wanted to find an opportunity to argue with Jiang Liangxu, but this man had a really good temper. Not only could they not start an argument, but when she tried to bring up a topic, he would often lead her astray.
It's already been five days since I started using my period as an excuse.
It's alright that Jiang Liangxu has to attend court and work at the Office of Transmission during the day, but it's not so easy to fool him if he comes back at night and sleeps in the same bed.
In the evening, after dinner.
“Princess Rongyang sent someone to urge us again today. Is she bored? Before she came, she had been under house arrest by the Empress Dowager. But she just happened to come to the Jiang family on the day you returned. What do you think she came for?”
Zhao Xian looked at Jiang Liangxu meaningfully. Today's fight had to start. They had already reviewed the situation many times during the day, and they absolutely could not fail.
Jiang Liangxu took the handkerchief handed to him by the maid and asked, "What did she do wrong? The Empress Dowager is actually willing to punish her?"
"You can't bear to part with it?"
Jiang Liangxu seemed oblivious to the provocation and sarcasm in her words. "Please speak, Madam. I have been away for half a year and know nothing about what is happening in Jin'an. Tell me quickly so that my colleagues will not ask me questions and I will be laughed at for being clueless."
Zhao Xian pursed her lips tightly; this reaction didn't match any of the ones she had expected.
But he has a point.
"She wanted to ruin the marriage between Heng'er and the third daughter of the Lu family, so she changed the horoscopes that Master Lingkong had matched for both families. She didn't even change both, she just changed ours." Now that she thinks about it, Zhao Xian still can't figure out her actions, she just can't understand them.
As for the incident of Lu San Niang from the Princess's residence falling into the water, no one has found out the truth, so we cannot make any hasty conclusions.
Everyone probably knows the truth, and it's likely that she's involved.
“When we went to the Lu family to propose marriage, they arranged for a brother and sister to perform in front of the Lu family’s house to slander your son forcibly taking a girl and being irresponsible.”
"How did Madam deal with such a despicable act?"
Speaking of this, Zhao Xian became very interested and began to talk at length.
She works as an assistant to celebrities. Although she hasn't been in the industry for long, she started going online to follow gossip back in her school days and has seen all sorts of ups and downs.
They also want to wage a media war against her.
"Madam is truly remarkable; this plan is brilliant."
Jiang Liangxu praised her while pouring her warm tea.
Zhao Xian finished telling the story of the twists and turns of the engagement between the male and female protagonists in a sweet romance novel through his flattery, but they hadn't even started arguing yet.
The tea that was handed to me was a little hot to the touch.
With a bang, Zhao Xian put the teacup back on the table and said in a deliberately cold voice, "You're giving me hot tea on such a hot day? Where's my ice cream?"
Oh no, this excuse is so lame. She's acting like an idiot, but she can only grit her teeth and keep going.
After all, when she woke up this morning, she didn't even know when she had rolled into his arms. This couldn't go on.
Jiang Liangxu's tone remained unchanged: "Drink hot tea, we won't eat that today."
Zhao Xian's face instantly darkened, and she said in a deliberately fierce tone, "Why should I? I've gone to great lengths to serve and raise this and that for your Jiang family, and you're being stingy over a bowl of ice cream from you? Is this the end of the world?"
Seeing Zhao Xian suddenly slam her hand on the table and stand up, Jiang Liangxu advised, "Iced cheese is too cold. Let's eat it in a few days."
Zhao Xian wouldn't listen to reason now. He had given her this leverage himself, so why not make a scene now?
Although she knew she was acting like an unreasonable idiot.
"Jiang Liangxu, stop changing the subject. Are you...?"
The words suddenly stopped, and Zhao Xian, who was standing, dared not sit down.
Just now, a warm flow gushed out from her lower abdomen, and her period came.
Seeing that Zhao Xian suddenly stopped speaking, Jiang Liangxu abruptly stood up and picked her up in his arms: "Why do you look so pale all of a sudden? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Someone, summon the imperial physician."
Zhao Xian quickly stopped her, saying, "No need, it's alright, I'm fine."
Zhao Xian grabbed Jiang Liangxu's collar, "It's really nothing."
Jiang Liangxu carried her to the bed, "But Madam looks very unwell."
Zhao Xian pursed her lips, her face pale, partly because her lie was about to be exposed, and partly because she had a stomachache.
It was so hot, and there weren't any other good iced drinks available, so she couldn't resist ice cream to cool off.
This month was especially busy, with almost two or three bowls of food a day.
Zhao Xian endured it for a while, then pushed Jiang Liangxu away: "Get out of my way."
When Zhao Xian finished getting ready and came out, Doctor Liu had already arrived.
...
Lying back on the bed, Zhao Xian didn't dare to look at Jiang Liangxu's face. Not only did she fail to get an argument or get him to the study, but her fake period was also exposed.
Her birth chart must clash with Jiang Liangxu's.
For the past six months since she transmigrated, her life has been smooth sailing. She can beat up both the male leads in angst-filled and sweet novels whenever she wants.
"Master, the medicine is ready." Peony brought the medicine into the room.
Jiang Liangxu held out his hand: "Give it to me."
There was ice in the room, and Zhao Xian was covered with a thin blanket with a hand warmer under her abdomen. Her face was not hot at first, but it started to burn when Jiang Liangxu sat down, making her feel embarrassed.
Zhao Xian turned her face away: "Laugh if you want to, don't hold it in and get sick."
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Author's Note: Wow, you guys guessed so well! I wish I could give you the keyboard to type, but I'm being lazy. [cheering emojis]
I'll update this chapter now, the next one will be much later, so please read it tomorrow.
Having gotten used to writing plots, I feel like writing about emotions makes me lose my mind. I need to pull myself back to my plots.
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